Since you were acquired from the Rays for Grant Balfour you've been a favorite of Brew Crew Ball and the Brewer fanbase in general. The first pitch you threw in Arizona hit 100 miles per hour on the FSN gun-- I remember it quite vividly. Through the Ned Yost playoff push of 2007, you were reliable from the pen. Jim Powell would always talk about the Brewers simplifying your mechanics to improve your control.
In 2008 you were the surprise of the staff. Many people did not think you would make the opening day roster, but some of us knew you would have to be a contributor to the staff at some point. You went on to have a remarkable season, performing out of the bullpen and filling in admirably in the starting rotation when few thought you would succeed. Your strikeout rate rose and walk rate dropped, good indicators for sustained improvement. You capped it off with an incredible performance in relief of Jeff Suppan in the final week of the season against the Cubs-- after coming in in the sixth, you finished off the game, allowing only 1 hit and 1 walk and striking out 6 Cubs. In a week that featured 2 Ryan Braun gamewinning homers, 3 Sabathia starts, and a Prince Fielder walkoff homer, and Gallardo's comeback effort, your performance was not overshadowed. It was absolutely amazing. I will also never forget the image of you jumping off of the bullpen wall after Braun's 8th-inning homer of the final game of the regular season. Such a joyous reaction that many of us watching at home could relate to entirely.
And now we're up to the present. It's been an interesting year of course, I don't think we need to do any specific recaps because it is happening right now. But the reason I write is because of your twitter. I don't think I have ever read a more enthusiastic twitter feed. It's a lot of fun to read. It really is so neat to learn the insights from the players themselves, and I say that without sarcasm. A lot of athletes have tried twitter and posted a few generic updates about how the team is doing, but honestly Seth, your feed so far is the most entertaining one I have come across. I just bookmarked it, and I don't even have Haudricourt's bookmarked. Just Adam McCalvy's.
Seth, your dedication to keeping the fans informed is absolutely admirable and I wish more athletes out there were like you. Everything we've heard about you is that you're a great guy and teammate. So with that being said, I'd like to formally apologize for the cheap joke I made about your conventions; first of all I had no knowledge of any factors involved and I really hate to be a grammar stickler anyway. It's simply out of habit based on my college-level English courses. I sincerely didn't mean it. And the way I constructed the joke was pretty stupid anyway, your control has been pretty solid over the past two years.
So to wrap this up, I am sincerely sorry about that and I hope you will not hold it against me. I think it is amazing that today analysts/bloggers can freely interact with the athletes whose performances they analyze. I think it's good for all of us to know that athletes are people just like anybody else-- they do normal activities, and sometimes they make spelling mistakes. I only hope to encourage you and any other professional athlete to continue on the trend towards more transparency and exposure.
Meanwhile, we will keep writing about our favorite team. I have spent hours analyzing the minor league BABIP of Alcides Escobar and Mat Gamel's platoon splits and, Seth, your pitch f/x data. I will probably spend many more hours analyzing Brewer information in the future. It's all in fun and it all serves to increase our understanding and appreciation of the game. That's what really matters here.
So thank you, Seth, and good luck to you in your role as a Milwaukee Brewer. Keep up the good work.